Projected Memoryis a nonprofit initiative meant to enable and encourage individuals to reflect on the meaning of their visits to memorials and museums by recording their thoughts and feelings in a semi-private, interactive audio/video booth. The project will also include an online archive of visitor impressions which, over time, should enhance our understanding of the various ways successive generations connect to historically traumatic sites and events. Projected Memory is a collective attempt to consider not only what happened here, but also what happens to me when I’m here.

In equal parts immediate outlet and long-term historiographical undertaking, Projected Memory asks visitors to contemplate in depth their response to memorials/museums and to consider what role visitors play in the way such sites will be remembered. Projected Memory takes its name from the idea that each of us, given our distinctive backgrounds and perspectives, experiences a site differently, and our individual thoughts – our memories of an event as we project them – help create part of the ongoing history and meaning of these difficult spaces.